Sustainability and Dining Services

At Eastern, Chartwells Dining Services plays a pivotal role in campus sustainability efforts. Eastern’s Hurley Dining Hall provides students with many healthy options including vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free selections as well as antibiotic-free poultry, chicken and pork. All ingredients are bought locally.

Hurley Hall uses a “tray-less” system which reduces food waste and eliminates water and energy costs associated with washing trays. Dining services are also plastic bag and straw free.

Over the years, dining services at Eastern has improved its commitment to sustainability, a vision that started with Jeff Kwolek and is now continued by Joseph Salvaggio. Some features include taking advantage of seasonal vegetables and purchasing produce from local farmers within a 150-mile radius. This in turn helps reduce the carbon footprint. 

In 2018 Eastern, in partnership with three other New England Universities, was awarded The Kendall Foundation's Food Vision Prize. The funding has been used to put underutilized local seafood and sustainably harvested kelp on dining hall and cafe menus across the campus. 

Hurley Dining Hall has been made more sustainable will the installation of LED light fixtures, new menus, and a restructuring of the seating which makes the hall a friendlier, more sustainable place to enjoy.

Original tables and chairs of the dining hall were re-purposed and donated to local churches for continued use. Students are also encouraged to scrape all post-consumed food scrapes into trash bins which will then be composted rather then sent to landfills.